The 16 Pro Max panel is 6.9 inches where the 15 Pro Max was 6.7. That sounds like a scaling problem and it is not one: the border shrank at the same time the panel grew, so the sheet had to be re-cut rather than enlarged.
Why a bigger panel is not a bigger sheet
A protector is not sized to the display. It is sized to the area of flat glass around the display that the adhesive can actually hold, minus a relief at the edge so a case can close over it. Grow the panel and shrink the border in the same generation and that usable area does not grow — it moves.
Scale the old outline up to the new diagonal and every feature lands in the wrong place at once: the cutout sits low, the corners run past the bend, and the sides reach into the contour where there is nothing flat left to stick to.
The corners are where it shows first
Apple has been increasing the corner radius on each generation. A sheet cut to the previous radius sits inside the new curve at the corners and proud of it along the sides, which is exactly the condition that starts an edge lift. It will look fine for a week and then catch on a pocket.
The cutout is shared, the panel is not
The 16 Pro and the 16 Pro Max use the same Dynamic Island shape. That similarity is the single most common reason people buy the wrong sheet: the cutout matches, so the protector looks right in the packet. The panels are 6.3 and 6.9 inches, so on the phone the alignment is out by several millimetres and there is no way to seat it.
A matching cutout is not a matching cut. Two phones can share a camera arrangement and share nothing else that matters to a sheet of glass.
What we changed
The outline is drawn to the 16 Pro Max panel specifically, with a 0.4mm relief at the contoured edge so the glass stops before the curve rather than trying to follow it. That relief is why it seats flush inside a case instead of being levered up by one.
If you have a 15 Pro Max sheet in a drawer
It will not fit a 16 Pro Max, and it is not close enough to be worth trying — you will use up the adhesive finding out. Same the other way round.
The general rule holds beyond Apple: two phones a year apart with similar screen sizes almost never share an outline, because the border is where manufacturers take their gains. Check the exact model, including the variant, every time.
Questions people ask
Will iPhone 15 Pro Max tempered glass fit the iPhone 16 Pro Max?
No. The 16 Pro Max panel is 6.9 inches against the 15 Pro Max’s 6.7, the border is thinner and the corners are rounder, so the old sheet sits wrong at every edge. The same is true the other way round.
Does iPhone 16 Pro glass fit the iPhone 16 Pro Max?
No. The two share the same Dynamic Island shape, which is why the wrong sheet can look right in the packet, but the panels are 6.3 and 6.9 inches. On the phone the alignment is out by several millimetres.
What size is the iPhone 16 Pro Max screen?
6.9 inches, up from 6.7 on the 15 Pro Max. The border shrank in the same generation, so the glass had to be re-cut rather than scaled up.
Why does the protector stop short of the edge on an iPhone 16 Pro Max?
Because the glass at the very edge contours away. Ours is drawn with a 0.4mm relief at that edge so it stops before the curve instead of trying to follow it — which is what lets it sit flush inside a case rather than being levered up by one.